The dispensing carton of the present invention is an improvement over the inventions disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,361,270, 4,201,329 and 4,094,456.
The invention disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,361,270 is a dispensing carton adapted for containing and dispensing small candies and includes a pair of internal compartments closed at one end. The upper or dispensing end of the carton has closure flaps that include two sets of registered openings, each set of openings aligned with one of the compartments, and a pair of independently operable sliding tabs which lie between the overlapping closure flaps. The sliding tabs slide between the flaps to open or close the openings.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,548,318 discloses a reclosable dispensing carton wherein the front wall of the carton has a nicked out circular portion. The central portion of a top wall panel extension has a debossed circular area adapted to overlie and be glued to the nicked out part of the front wall. When the central portion is pulled, the nicked out area adheres to it and is removed from the front wall to form a dispensing opening. The cover flap may be pushed back against the carton wall to cause the nicked out area to frictionally lock within the opening to reclose the carton. In a multi-cell version of this carton, each cell has its own dispensing opening with the structure just described.
While the above-cited prior art represents improvements in reclosable dispensing cartons for dispensing one or more flavors of candy or other kinds of material from the same carton, there are some problems that the cited patents do not address. One such problem is that the prior art cartons may not always provide good evidence of tampering with the carton. In the case of the carton with the slidable tabs (patent '270), someone could cut around the openings, open the slide tabs, tamper with the product and close the tabs leaving slight evidence of the tampering. Likewise, in the case of the reclosable carton with the friction lock (patent '318), tampering would not be immediately apparent, particularly to a child, because the cover flap overlies and tends to obscure the opening into the carton.
Another problem is that the packages disclosed in the prior art may be difficult to open because a consumer must tear through two layers of carton wall or must tear away two or more removable tabs secured to the carton by adhesive to expose the dispensing opening(s).
Therefore, a reclosable dispensing carton for containing and dispensing one or more varieties of material and providing tamper evidence, which is easy to open and close and which may be produced efficiently and inexpensively would be a decided improvement over the dispensing containers disclosed in the prior art.